


Nico's own personal brand of Ambrosia

by JiangChengIsMySon



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Nico di Angelo has a boyfriend, Past Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, it gets better though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:14:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JiangChengIsMySon/pseuds/JiangChengIsMySon
Summary: Its been a year since the son of Hades disappeared from the face of the Earth,No one expected him too return to Camp half-blood all bloody and bruised, holding what looked like a corpse on his arms,And, least to say nobody expected him to return with a boyfriend…that apparently, was a vampire.-------------Will snarled, “Oh, what are you saying? Your boyfriends a fucking vampire?”Will was throwing curses left and right and I was about to tell him to calm down before pausing, letting Will’s words register, oh,Oh, was this what it was?Nico’s silence was enough of an answer and Will’s face fell, the fire in his eyes long gone and instead he had a wistful almost glum expression, I raised a brow but didn’t bother commenting.There was silence, and both broke it at the same time.“So he is your boyfriend-““Actually, he’s a demon-“(Will update irregularly since I have both school and suffer with an extreme case of laziness)
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Nico di Angelo & The Seven, Nico di Angelo/Original Male Character(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	Nico's own personal brand of Ambrosia

_A friend disappears, and out comes a stranger._

Camp half-blood, January 22nd

_02.34 pm_

Being the demigod son of Jupiter and in turn inheriting the genes of a _literal_ god meant that I was subjected to a lot of unbelievable sights.

With a few honorary examples being mother nature trying to kill me and my friends, monsters from earth, land and sky trying to kill me and my friends, and even my own father trying to kill me and my friends due to his tendency to overreact whenever things didn’t go his way- in conclusion when you were a demigod, it was safe to assume everyone will - _at the very least_ once- attempt to kill you and your friends—

\--but back to the topic, point was, I was fairly certain that I had seen it all. Monsters of all kinds, the weirdest most vague prophecies, weirdly flirty gods and questionable relationships and so forth.

Nothing surprised me anymore, and that was - _weirdly_ enough- consoling.

However, as the shrill cry echoed in my ears and the desperate pleas for help from the one person -who’s face contorted into pure unadulterated anguish, pain and every other emotion I didn’t even know he _could_ express- I least expected it from.

I realized that I knew nothing of this world at all, or at the very least knew nothing of Nico di Angelo, who popped back into Camp half-blood 3 years after his disappearance, all bloody and bruised with tears of desperation streaming down his face.

(Later I would realize that the answers to all my questions was within the body that he was cradling. I didn’t even notice it at first, too preoccupied with Nico, who had the body all wrapped up in shadows as if it was his most precious thing that he had yet shared with the rest of the world.)

The entrance to the infirmary bay was littered with curious campers, both new and old all scrambling to get a peak as to what was inside.

I was one of the few that was let in, being somewhat close to the guy and in turn being one of the first familiar face he spotted amongst the crowd. Nico was a hysterical mess and maybe approaching him with a hug wasn’t the best way to greet him. It was only by pure luck that Will Solace reached Nico before I did, and he was immediately chaperoned into med bay with me in tow. Piper, who had followed me into the whole mess decided to stay back in order to usher the campers back into their own cabins, charmspeak on the back of her throat.

Clearly, it didn’t go well judging by the heads that popped behind the windowsills. I was tempted to run outside and shoo them away, but human curiosity even extended to the Apollo children in the bay, their hushed whispers poorly concealed behind the weak privacy of a curtain that Will had irritably shut in front of their faces. 

Will had practically dragged Nico and the weird lump of shadow that he was holding. Will shouted, demanding for Nico to throw it away, yelling something about doctor’s orders but Nico was resilient, it was when they entered the privacy of their cot and behind the curtains that both I and Will realized that the blood that stained Nico’s shirt and hands weren’t his own.

Once Nico confusingly placed the dark…thing whatever it was, on the bed instead of himself, the weird shapeless lump revealed itself. Tendrils of shadow detached from the figure and down into the darkness of the floorboards and underneath the bed.

My jaw dropped slightly and beside me I heard Will gasp, shoving a complaint meant for Nico down his throat.

There was a face in the darkness, and soon enough a body. He looked oddly peaceful for someone that was bleeding rather generously from his stomach, his shirtless state revealing very clearly a large circular wound on his abdomen and I couldn’t help but wince once I involuntarily peaked in and could outline what looked like innards. Nausea was quick to overthrow my entire body and I averted my eyes to the bedside table, suddenly interested in the intricate patterns on the vase above it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t squeamish or anything. But whenever I accidently -or not so accidently- stabbed someone I wasn’t exactly interested on what was inside and usually kept the body and its organs by itself.

Clearly whoever did this to poor guy didn’t hold the same values.

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice cut through the air and my attention shifted to Nico, I startled. “Will please heal him I-I p-please-” he chocked down a sob, but the tears fell anyway. Beside me Will froze and I didn’t dare lift my gaze off Nico. Nico who I knew to be one of the powerfullest demigod’s out there in the world, Nico who I remembered pushed everyone away because he was afraid of people and Nico, the person who treated emotions as if they were weaknesses—

\--now openly begged and pleaded like a powerless mortal to a god in search for mercy, with eyes as red as blood and the collar of his shirt soaked in tears, Nico, who was openly grieving for _someone_.

 _Someone_ had touched Nico’s heart, _someone_ had broken the confines, uncoiled the chains to Nico’s emotions and that _someone_ was on the brink of his death and Nico was _grieving for_ him.

And that _someone_ was a stranger. He was a stranger who meant nothing to me, nothing to Will but everything to Nico.

 _Someone_ was everything to Nico.

And I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Will was the first to speak and when I turned to him, he fell back into his professional persona, his face serious and void of any emotion except the one that was desperate to heal the guy currently on his death bed.

Will began immediately. Shouting at his siblings on the other side of the curtain to fetch some stuff while he hovered his hands over the large wound. A glow enveloped the space and I could see a bit of scarring on the edges of the large gash, it was working but I worried if it was enough.

I jumped when I heard a thump to my right and saw Nico kneeling on the side of the bed, his pale fingers wrapped around the stranger’s hand. My eyes widening slightly at the sight of Nico intertwining his own fingers with the stranger, pale skin against brown. I immediately shifted my gaze to Will who glanced at their intertwined hands, before pointedly avoiding it and concentrating on the wound, the brightness underneath his palms intensifying.

The curtains shifted behind me and a familiar red head with green dip dye more or less stumbled into the room, holding a small container with medical stuff inside. Kayla dipped her head to me, muttering a quick apology and approached her brother and gave him the container, at the same time as she winced when she saw the state of the patient but was polite enough to not ask any questions. Will accepted it wordlessly and whispered something I couldn’t hear, but clearly it wasn’t something that Nico approved of.

“NO!” Nico protested; rather loudly might I add. His voice trembled slightly and his grip on the patient hardened that I was almost afraid the guys finger might snap off. Whatever it was that Will had suggested had clearly offended Nico, Hades, I might’ve even said that he looked scared at the moment.

Will’s professional façade slipped off and his face turned from confused to furious, “Nico I can’t _fucking_ see-”

Nico responded with similar fervor, tilting his head up and eyes alit “No! You don’t understand” he paused, tone suddenly calmer and his head lowered to the man on the bed. He swallowed before answering, “The sunlight will hurt him, he’s weak right now and usually- _Ambrose’s_ not usually like this but I’ve seen it, I swear-” His words were jumbled, hush and stressed, and if I was a bit further away from where he was kneeling I wouldn’t have heard it.

I frowned, not understanding what he meant and was about to ask him when Will’s furious voice cut in.

Will snarled, “Oh, what are you saying? Your boyfriends a fucking vampire?”

Will was throwing curses left and right and I was about to tell him to calm down before pausing, letting Will’s words register, oh,

 _Oh,_ _was this what it was?_

Nico’s silence was enough of an answer and Will’s face fell, the fire in his eyes long gone and instead he had a wistful almost glum expression, I raised a brow but didn’t bother commenting.

There was silence, and both broke it at the same time.

“So he _is_ your boyfriend-“

“Actually, he’s a demon-“

I didn’t register it at first, in fact I suspected that the words never completely reached me. That was until Kayla let out a shameless gasp, an _ohhhh_ of realization and then a confused _huh?_

I was stunned, at Nico’s dating status or his choice of boyfriend being a demon? And then questioned myself for accepting it so easily.

Will was the first to speak, but his words were slow, doubting “you mean he’s a monster?”

Nico scowled at the word, and he bit his lip as if to stop himself from speaking, “no, he’s a demon” he said, with so much confidence and clarity I had no heart to question it.

Instead I left the questioning to Will, who looked like he had swallowed a rock, his face red and puffed “is this some kind of joke? You coming home after three years mind you!-“

“I’m telling the truth!”

They continued to throw insults at each other, back and forth and I was quick to filter it out in an attempt to gather my thoughts.

Demons? I pondered, tasting the word on my tongue as the bitter image of short red horned demons to sacrificial rituals with goat heads appeared in my head- no, vampires were better, I argued as if I had the power to change whatever…species the guy in front of me belonged too.

I observed him for a moment, motionless and dead looking. My eyes were quick to travel to his head in search for horns -there was none- and then to his back, only to retract once I caught sight of his open stomach once again.

Demons? Were there demons in Greek mythology? There were vampire though, or rather _empousas._

Empousas were winged bloodsucking monsters created by lady Hecate, I didn’t have personal experience with them, but I heard stories from a few campers from both Jupiter and Half-blood about the savage monsters known to devour travelers, their high-pitched scream being the last thing their victims ever heard.

Now I really wasn’t one to judge. I knew a few who opted for non-mortal partners like nymphs and water spirits. But I still couldn’t help but feel as if this was different, not that nymphs didn’t have the ability to brutally murder their mortal partners, but the fact was that empousa’s _craved_ blood, it was included in their diet and my brain was quick to compile on why dating someone who had no choice but to view you as life source was a bad idea.

Not that Nico was dating an empousa, or a _vampire_. He was dating a demon for Gods sakes- and oh Gods was that much worse? I didn’t even know

My struggle to sort out my thoughts must’ve been apparent in my face with Nico shooting me a disapproving glare, “Jason” he called out, looking straight towards me. I noticed that his tears had dried, but his eyes were still puffy, and I came to a realization.

Nico had changed, obviously, there were parts of his life that I had missed and that stretched to his appearance.

It’s been approximately three year since Nico di Angelo disappeared from the face of the earth. He was fifteen when he left which meant that he should be about eighteen by now.

The years served him well, I silently mused. The unhealthy hollowness of his cheeks were filled- but not fully so and the appearance of high cheekbones and a rather sharp jaw captivated me. That wasn’t the only difference, his nose was taller, face less round and elongated and I could faintly trace the tracks of a shaved stubble around his chin and jawline.

He looked…eighteen, and it just dawned on me- not that I didn’t realize it earlier, with the whole boyfriend thing- but it hit me that, this wasn’t the Nico I knew.

The Nico I knew was a scrawny fifteen year old who just managed to get a footing in Camp, he was strong but weak in the social department, a bit shy, scared of crowds, scared of who he _was_ \- but this Nico that suddenly appeared in front of me was everything _but-_ he had managed to snag a boyfriend of all people _and_ he told us all that fact so easily-

He looked different, he acted different- and was that tattoos peeking from underneath his sleeves?...peircings?

“Jason!”

I was immediately pulled out of my trance and I flushed, realizing how weird that must’ve looked like to freeze in the middle of nowhere looking like I had just checked out a friend thoroughly. But I swear I wasn’t, I was just curious.

“Y-Yes?!” I yelled, wincing at the volume.

Nico pursed his mouth together, “Were you even listening?!” he then turned to Will, “Are you?!”

Will sighed and the glow that had yet to cease from his palm flickered slightly, “yeah you were spouting some bullshit about how he was a demon, like you know a demon from _Hell_ of all places-,

“Can you stop yelling it’s not like you-“

“You don’t know me Nico” Will snapped, the anger returned but it was quick to disappear, “you don’t know me”

Nico looked pained but didn’t try to argue.

I observed the odd exchange between the two. Nico wasn’t a people’s person, so it wasn’t that weird for people to not be…friendly, towards him. But Will was downright hostile and I fought hard to suppress walking towards him and scolding him since over the years that I knew Nico I had developed some sense of responsibility towards the guy.

But I also knew better, Will wasn’t the guy to hold onto his prejudices and I remembered hearing rumors about the two being friends. Turns out I wasn’t the only one distraught on Nico’s disappearance. 

I decided it was my cue to step in.

Nico had risen up from his argument with Will, but he still didn’t let go of his boyfriends hand. I placed a comforting hand to his shoulder and he flinched slightly- only to calm once he realized it was me. He stared, questionably up at me- my mind was happy, slightly, that he hadn’t grown so much as to surpass me in height.

“How about we calm down” I looked towards Will, who refused to meet my gaze- and back to Nico, “and let Nico explain”

Nico’s expression softened at this, offering a rare smile of gratitude that I was a bit shocked to see.

Nico was oblivious to this and his attention was once again on the man on the bed, bending his knees ever so slightly as too not stretch out his arm so much, “I mean exactly that, he’s a demon”

I felt Will beside me shift and he had a tired look on his face, but before he could open his mouth, Kayla -who I forgot was inside our little cot- piped in, her voice scolding, “Will! Are you forgetting that we’re literal demigods and everything is possible?”

Will looked perturbed, disbelief lacing his features as he mockingly pointed at Nico, “Everything? Next time he’s going to say that angels exist too I swear if he-“

“they exist”

His voice silenced Will and in turn Kayla.

Kayla looked triumphant while Wills frustration simmered down- thankfully so.

“Seriously?” Will asked, desperately, the glow from his fingers flickering ever so slightly -and in the back of my mind I applauded his ability to multitask.

Nico nodded, and it was that simple motion that forced me to _actually_ realize the implication of his words- only that there wasn’t any implications, just truth, and I felt like as lost as a new Camper just arriving to Camp-half-blood and realizing that one of my parents was a God.

“Oh” I muttered out, “huh”

And with that, the entire conversation was over. Everything was silent -sans the low hum from Will’s fingers. I didn’t realize that I had zoned out before Kayla tapped my shoulder and basically ordered me to call the _others._

When I stepped out of the infirmary and into the blazing sun my knees almost gave out, it felt as if the whole world was tipped by its axis- perhaps it was that the existence of angels and demons and perhaps other biblical figures were suddenly revealed to me- but a small knowing voice in my head told me that It was because of a certain son of Hades.

 _Nico disappeared, and out came a stranger_ , I solemnly thought. _Were we even friends? Why didn’t he contact us?_

But a bossy voice -Piper’s- in my head yelled, _so what_?

Yeah, exactly, so what?

_I can make friends with said stranger._

And with that, I skipped away towards my cabin, trying to desperately remember where I hid those emergency drachmas.

I tossed 5 drachmas into the air and called for an IM chat group , it was one of Iris’s latest installments although this was my first time using it, “Call Hazel, Frank, Leo, Annabeth and Percy” I hesitantly said, almost like it was a question.

The call went through and the faces of the rest of the seven popped up -into what looked like five facetime squares- into the air.

Everyone greeted chipperly in a chorus of “Jason!” and a “brooo” from Percy.

I didn’t waste any time at all, and if I did, I was afraid I would ramble on my thoughts for far too long, so I said it as it is, “Nico’s back”

The line went silence and I saw Hazel’s eyes widen. Frank, who had closed his IM and moved into Hazel’s square nearly stumbled but regained his balance, sputtering out a shocked _really?_

The others were in the same state, and whilst Hazel looked emotional Percy looked ready to burst from excitement.

I couldn’t hear what he said though, for everyone was talking at the same time. It was, however, Annabeth’s calm but curious voice that caught my attention

She was excited at the news of course, no one has seen Nico for the past 3 years after all- but unlike everyone else on the line Annabeth was levelheaded, and she of all people knew that Nico came back with a purpose, “so, what happened” she asked, hesitant, almost scared.

I didn’t blame her, news was hardly ever good when you were a demigod, and Annabeth had her own life to live.

I had a problem though. Nico wasn’t out, and this was something important to him -even though he was casual about it now, having revealed it to Solace and to everyone within earshot- Nico was born in the eighties, and I didn’t want to be the person who broke his trust, so instead I said, “Nico’s… _partner_ , their badly injured and-“

As expected, the line erupted in another fit of chaos and all I could hear was Leo’s howl and Percy’s shriek.

I rolled my eyes and let out a chuckle, “yeah, yeah, our little boy has grown I know” I said, fondly.

Annabeth looked shocked at the admission, Hazel as well- she still hadn’t recovered from hearing that her _brother_ was back and the partner thing on top of it- well, least to say, I understood her silence.

Lucky enough, Frank was there for moral support and he placed a few pats on her shoulder.

Leo and Percy were the loud ones, and Leo had a fake angry expression on his face, “dammit, death boy got a girl _before_ me?” he muttered out, bitterly but everyone knew it was for show.

Percy looked joyous, and I swear I have never seen the guy happier “oh my god, what’s her name?”

 _Her_ , right.

I was silent for a moment, blinking, trying to find a name before remembering that Nico _did_ mention a name. Ambrose, I think?

I smiled at the others, “Ambro…Rose” I settled.

The line erupted in another flurry of cheers.

 _Oh well, that would do for now_. 


End file.
